OpenFace Day: ten ideas for the future of façades
What happens when students, researchers, and young professionals are given three minutes to share their boldest façade idea?
You get OpenFace Day 2026.
On 24 June, the OpenFace community gathered at The Green Village, TU Delft, and online, for an afternoon dedicated to innovation, experimentation, and the future of façade design and engineering.
The event marked two important milestones: the launch of the OpenFace MicroMaster and the first edition of the OpenFace Innovation Pitch Competition.
From adaptive façades inspired by nature to circular glass systems, from 3D-printed building envelopes to passive cooling solutions, ten teams shared their visions for how façades can help create healthier, more sustainable, and more resilient buildings.
The challenge was simple: explain your innovation in just three minutes.
The result was a series of inspiring pitches demonstrating how the next generation of façade designers and engineers is tackling some of the biggest challenges facing the built environment.
Beyond the Façade
Vali Shishebori (Victoria University, Australia)
Can the environmental envelope extend beyond the building itself?
Vali explored how climate-responsive vegetation can create living buffer zones between streets and buildings, improving thermal comfort, air quality, and urban resilience.
Bioregional Design and Workflow of Mycelium Composite Materials for the Built Environment
Fiamma Morselli (Politecnico di Torino)
What if building materials could grow from local resources?
This project explored regenerative mycelium-based composites developed through bioregional design principles, using local biomass and fungal strains to create circular building materials.
Enhancing Fire-Resistant Glazing with Borosilicate Glass
Katie Sawey, Stijn Blom, Sarah Wagner, Brayden Tang (TU Delft)
Can a material known from laboratory equipment and kitchenware improve façade fire safety?
The team investigated the thermal shock resistance and failure mechanisms of borosilicate glass compared to conventional glazing systems.
WASPer_3DP
Juan Diego Vargas (Politecnico di Torino)
A free framework connecting computational design, performance assessment, and additive manufacturing.
The project demonstrates how 3D-printed façade components can be designed and fabricated through a single integrated workflow.
LORICA
Gabriel Marks, Giorgia Vercelloni, Jasmijn Jiskoot, Lieke Linthorst (TU Delft)
Inspired by the articulated armour of the armadillo, LORICA transforms the façade into an adaptive, kinetic system capable of filtering light and responding to changing environmental conditions.
ReGlass Thermal Blocks
Maja Dziwok (TU Delft)
Glass is one of the few materials that can be recycled endlessly.
This project explored how recycled glass and foam glass can be combined into a demountable façade system that delivers both thermal performance and circularity.
A Value-Responsive Modular Façade System
Julie Daniels (TU Delft)
Can modular renovation be standardised without making every home the same?
A method to translate residents’ values (such as comfort, affordability, identity, and sustainability) into measurable façade design criteria, allowing industrialised renovation to remain efficient while responding to the people who live behind the façade.
Structural Glass Node
Esra Yağdır ÇELİKER (Istanbul Technical University & Özyeğin University)
A small component with a big impact.
The project proposed an innovative glass point-fixing node for cable-net façades, increasing transparency while maintaining structural performance.
Solar, Adaptive and Circular Façades
Arlind Dervishaj (KTH Royal Institute of Technology)
Cities change. Should façades change too?
This project explored a parametric workflow that adapts façade modules to changing urban contexts while maximizing circularity and solar performance.
EVAPORA
Amita Saroya, Noah Makuku Bozzini, Erita Krasniqi, Aysegul Erol, Daniela Unda Orozco, Zahra Azami (Politecnico di Milano)
Can a façade cool a building without air conditioning?
Using porous brick modules and evaporative cooling principles, EVAPORA transforms the façade into an active climate moderator.
Watch the presentations: video online!
Launching the OpenFace MicroMaster
The event also celebrated the launch of the OpenFace MicroMaster, the first comprehensive online educational programme dedicated entirely to façade design, construction, and engineering.
Developed by TU Delft, TU Darmstadt, and Eurac Research, OpenFace combines academic expertise, practical case studies, industry insights, and a growing international learning community.